California Governor Gavin Newsom announced Thursday a new regional stay-at-home order to curb the spread of COVID-19 in the state. 

The United States remains the country with the highest number of COVID-19 infections and death toll. According to the official tally of Worldometer's COVID-19 data, California is the second state in the country with the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths.

Read also: Los Angeles County Issues New COVID-19 Orders Following Cases Surge 

California's Regional Stay-At-Home Order 

Newsom's regional stay-at-home order will trigger other COVID-19 restrictions in the state. According to a published report in ABC30, the stay-at-home order will serve as an "emergency brake" to mitigate the rampant spread of COVID-19 in the state.

Newsom is breaking the state into these five regions:

  • Northern California
  • Greater Sacramento
  • Bay Area
  • San Joaquin Valley
  •  Southern California

According to the released guidelines, if the ICU hospital capacity falls below 15 percent, the stay-at-home order will be declared immediately along with other COVID-19 restrictions for at least three weeks. It can also be extended depending on the severity of the situation.

At present, there are no other regions that are immediately affected. Still, it is expected that all regions will be affected by the threshold within the next few days, except for the Bay Area. The Bay Area is the only region in the state projected to fall below 15 percent later this month.  

Read also: San Francisco Mayor Issues New Curfew Order That Affects Local Businesses 

Other Restrictions in California

Once the stay-at-home order is implemented in the region because the hospital capacity falls below 15 percent, the following directives will also be triggered:

  • Bars, wineries, nail salons, hair salons and barbershops, and other personal care services will need to close.
  • Private gatherings of any size will be prohibited.
  • Schools that have received a waiver to reopen can stay open, as can all "critical infrastructure."
  • Restaurants can stay open for takeout and delivery but indoor and outdoor dining will not be allowed. 
  • All retail stores are allowed to stay open at 20% capacity.
  • All non-essential travel is "temporarily restricted statewide"
  • Hotels and motels are now restricted to only guests traveling for an "essential" reason.

Newsom admitted that the restrictions would negatively impact small businesses, but he will be doing something to support the small businesses. 

"This is the most challenging moment since the beginning of this pandemic. If there was ever any time to put aside your doubt, to put aside your skepticism, to put aside your cynicism to put aside your ideology, to put aside any consideration except this: Lives are in the balance. Lives will be lost unless we do more than we've ever done," the California Governor said. 

The state breaks down counties in the five regions as follows: 

  • Northern California: Del Norte, Glenn, Humboldt, Lake, Lassen, Mendocino, Modoc, Shasta, Siskiyou, Tehama, Trinity
  • Bay Area: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Monterey, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, Sonoma
  • Greater Sacramento: Alpine, Amador, Butte, Colusa, El Dorado, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, Sierra, Sutter, Yolo, Yuba
  • San Joaquin Valley: Calaveras, Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, San Benito, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Tulare, Tuolumne
  • Southern California: Imperial, Inyo, Los Angeles, Mono, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura

The stay-at-home order will go into effect Saturday at 12:59 p.m., and Newsom said there would be consequences for any uncooperative counties. 

Meanwhile, Newsom said funds would be given to states following the protocols and restrictions to prevent the virus from spreading rapidly.